confused ........

[ChemicalAngel]

How can I ask for a trial of levothyroxine, if it is true that once you start that you cannot stop??

Got clinic appointment next Wednesday for the triage team to see if it is CFS, and was going to go with blood results as well as the 2 questionnaires that they sent for me to fill in.

Ann xx

[helvella]

Ann,

That is simply not true.

Most people who need replacement thyroid hormone will need to continue taking it because their thyroids are not producing enough, and cannot produce enough. But if they stopped, even they would be hardly any worse off than not having tried it at all.

But the medical literature has a significant percentage of people who do not need to continue taking thyroid hormone forever.

Let alone the number of research papers where healthy volunteers are dosed up with levothyroxine for a period then simply stop!

Certainly trying for a few weeks, or even a few months, simply does not mean you cannot ever stop - and if you don't actually need it, you should be able to stop quite easily.

Remember, doctors every day give patients medicines which are, at least potentially, far more difficult to stop taking - e.g. steroids, benzodiazepine (valium).

It is precisely because it is not an absolute commitment that a trial is such a reasonable step for a doctor to suggest.

This "take for life" bit is grossly over-played - it seems to be used as an excuse not to prescribe.

Rod

[PinkNinja]

Thyroxine and liothyronine are both prescribed in some instances to enhance the effects of tricyclic antidepressants in particularly resistant forms of severe depression. Once it is no longer needed, the patient is able to stop with no ill effects, unless of course they have an underlying thyroid problem like I did

[RedApple]

A relative of mine was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and prescribed levothyroxine whilst living in another country. When she came back to live in the UK, her tests indicated that she no longer needed to take it. That was ten years ago, and she has suffered no untoward effects from stopping.

I have never been able to make sense of this 'once you start, you can't stop it' excuse that some medics apparently dish out.

[ChemicalAngel]

Ah, thank you so much.

Why cant the medical profession be more honest and explain things properly??

Ann xxx

[RedApple in reply to ChemicalAngel]

Perhaps because it's difficult to explain something properly when you don't understand it properly yourself!

[Hidden]

This might also help you at your appointment.

Jane x

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/diagno...